Vancouver Holiday Part Two

OK, I didn't plan for this to be two-part, but something is wonky with the first post. If it dies while you dear readers are reading it or commenting, please LMK. Somehow a big blank thing appeared in the middle of the post and now when I try to edit it - or finish it! - it goes blank in the edit mode. I've copied and saved it in case I have to reconstruct.

I didn't get a chance to add links to parts of my first post. If you don't know Jayne's website, it's here, with a link to her Etsy shop here, where she has her beautiful hand-dyed yarn and stitch markers for sale.

So, to finish what I had left to do in the first post:

This photo of Uleta is from my 2005 visit, showing her lovely garden. I think her lavenders could be right up there with those at any good lavender farm, and that's one of the things I most envy. I love lavenders, as most of you know, but I can't seem to grow them very well, in spite of having very sandy soil. However, I keep trying. One of these days, I'll have a picture like that!

On Monday, Alice Trueman was able to come over from Salt Spring for lunch. She was wearing a beautiful Wren top, the so-popular one this summer from the Berroco website, done in a lavender and green yarn, the very same Zodiac yarn that is called for by the pattern. I had no idea from the pictures that any of the Zodiac colors would look so pretty, since most of the online photos showed much brighter, hotter color combinations, though it may be the 'Arcadia' color, which is marked as being new. Alice said she improved the fit by adding bust darts, and I was not at all surprised that the top fit her perfectly.

We went off to lunch at a newish restaurant, and the food was terrific. It was fun to chat with two so-experienced knitters. Then Alice and Uleta took me on a little tour of one of the shopping area in Sidney, and we looked into the yarn shop, a lavender shop and one of the local bookstores. Yarn, lavender, books - what a perfect CBM agenda!

The yarn shop is just changing ownership; the new owner was quite friendly and the shop looked like a nice place to sit and knit. They were unpacking some Fleece Artist Sea Wool when we arrived, so of course I had to look, though I didn't buy any. It was interesting to see the British version of the Harry Potter books in the bookstore, with the covers being different from the ones published here in the US. Yes, they are planning a midnight HP party tonight, with the store opening at 11pm for the crowd of fans. The lavender shop was full of lovely scented things, though I only bought a pair of pretty little hand-painted lavender-designed votive holders.

Then Alice had to leave to catch her ferry back to Salt Spring. But, here's the thing, I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of Alice and Uleta. Boy, did I feel dumb, when it hit me about 15 minutes after Alice left. So I'm missing a picture to show you. It's in my mind, carefully saved, cropped and enhanced. But while I share some of what's in my mind with you, here on this blog, I can't show you pictures.

So, the trip was wonderful, thanks to Karen, Uleta, Jayne and Alice, the great friends I have in Vancouver and its surrounds. They are terrific knitters, generous with their time and talents, and kind in so many ways, even to remembering to stock up on Growers' Extra Dry Apple Cider, every one of them!!